A collision history-based approach to sensitivity/perturbation calculations in the continuous energy Monte Carlo code SERPENT

In this work, the implementation of a collision history-based approach to sensitivity/perturbation calculations in the Monte Carlo code SERPENT is discussed. The proposed methods allow the calculation of the effects of nuclear data perturbation on several response functions: the effective multiplication factor, reaction rate ratios and bilinear ratios (e.g., effective kinetics parameters). SERPENT results are compared to ERANOS and TSUNAMI Generalized Perturbation Theory calculations for two fast metallic systems and for a PWR pin-cell benchmark. New methods for the calculation of sensitivities to angular scattering distributions are also presented, which adopts fully continuous (in energy and angle) Monte Carlo estimators. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.